1990 Ford Tempo Hot Rod
Some of you might have seen this car before, in our book “Class of 2009,” or from a certain Bangshift.com forum thread…
…and probably a few of you were wondering how you could hop-up what appears to be a mid-90′s Mercury Topaz. Honestly, who even makes hi-performance parts for a mid-size family car?
Nobody, that’s who. Engine parts, suspension upgrades, all those things that make hot rodding easy for Chevelle or Challenger fans doesn’t exist for this particular car. But that wasn’t enough to stop Sean Curtis of Brandon, MB.
Mr. Curtis originally found the car in rough shape. It had been sitting on the side of the road, and was apparently scheduled for the local scrapyard. Sean left a note on the windshield hoping to pick up the little 2-door, and a week later it was his new baby.
That’s not to say it was a done deal. The car originally came with a 4-cylinder and a slushbox (automatic) transmission, which had to go. It was replaced with a 3.0-litre V6 and a 5 speed manual transmission from another Ford car. Dirt and grease stains were applied to all engine surfaces for “extra character.”
The engine swap itself was completed in a single weekend, which was surprising even to Sean. There was even enough time to bolt on a cold air intake and 75-horsepower worth of Nitrous for “Go Time.”
When Go Time came, it was in the form of Neepawa, Manitoba’s annual 1/8th mile drag race weekend. The unlikely hero ran the runway in 9.6 seconds @ 72 miles per hour. Not bad for a car that was probably never meant to break 55.
The interior is a mix of tuner-influenced body colour accents with touches of oldskool hot rodding. The door panels and dashboard trim pieces were painted to the same fiery orange as the outside, and capped off with a classic chrome steering wheel. The shifter and seats are original Ford Tempo equipment because, well, no one else makes’em to fit this car.
Speaking of oldskool hot rodding, this is where the car really takes on hot rodding’s true roots. When hot rodding got its start in Southern California, there was no such thing as speed shops or performance parts. If you wanted to go faster, you either stripped down the car, found a bigger stock engine, or found junkyard parts that you could swap onto your current engine. It wasn’t until guys like Alex Xydias and Vic Edelbrock Sr. (founders of So-Cal Customs and the Edelbrock parts empire, respectively) started building and selling parts for the speed lovin’ crowd that the hobby we know today was formed.
However, that hobby is formed around older, rarer, and much more expensive cars. Sure, they look cool and make great gobs of power, but owning a classic musclecar or street rod is quickly falling out of reach of the next generation of gearheads. That’s why it’s so cool to see Sean going back to basics with his Tempo, scratching for parts wherever he could to make his mean machine cool again. The Mercury Topaz grill and alloy rims are assembly-line Ford parts from the scrapyard, just like they used to do it. Even the fibreglass hoodscoop was salvaged from a buddy’s rolled Mustang.
The car has become a real head turner, and not just because it’s a freakin’ Ford Tempo hot rod. The paint is clean, the stance is perfect, and there’s no goofy Fast & Furious wannabe stuff hanging off the sides. It’s a car built by someone who truly loves cars, and truly knows how to build one respectfully. And when someone like that lays a wrench to anything, it’ll turn out cool.
Think you can do better? Upload yours! (er, I mean, *ahem* upload your own photos) and show off your photographic chops on the new SundayCruiseFever.com Flickr group! If it’s related to cars and/or car culture, bring it on to show off what ya got!
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I recently bought my own ford tempo,
it is a 93 v6 5 speed coupe, low km and mint interior,
i love what you’ve done with yours and its somewhat
inspired me to get a little creative with my own,
although i have no intention of stealing your ideas
anyways, sweet car
not bad, but it seems like it was talked up a bit. Its not hard to stick a greasy engine in a car and say you added the stains to add charactor. I’m working on a 1988 Ford Tempo GLS 2 door and i have found a bit of parts for the car. It takes a lot of time in research to find what parts work on these cars. There is an aftermarket for them, you just have to find it.